News

DJR Team Penske Focus On Race Package For Clipsal 500

February 27, 2015

Adelaide, South Australia, 27.02.15. DJR Team Penske’s promising early practice form did not translate to qualifying speed today in the opening of the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship at the Clipsal 500. The new look DJR Team Penske hosted Roger Penske and Tim Cindric in the garage today; the USA Team Penske personnel arriving in Australia after a victorious Daytona 500 weekend just five days ago.

The Shell Helix Ford Falcon FG X finished in P15 after practice session one - a position Marcos Ambrose believed was on target for the rest of the day. Two further practice session followed with Ambrose delivering a third session in P17.

Heading into qualifying, the DJR Team Penske crew were looking to gain on the mid field results but the very short, twin 10 minute sessions did not have Ambrose featuring in the results.

A quick turnaround between Q1 and Q2 saw the car complete a single run in the final qualifying but only achieve a 24th place.

The DJR Team Penske crew were quickly working on set up changes for final practice on Saturday to try and get the car’s handling to a point Ambrose was confident with.

Marcos Ambrose - #17 DJR Team Penske Shell Helix Ford Falcon FG X.
“Definitely not the result we were looking for. The car was quite good in the morning on old tyres and I thought P15 was about where we should have been. Even in P3 we were in a similar position. But with new tyres and the track getting faster the balance in the car was missing. I was getting a lot of understeer and with the sessions so short we just did not achieve an optimum set up.”

Team Penske is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 500 major race wins, over 570 pole positions and 33 Championships across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing competition. Over the course of its 52-year history, the team has also earned 17 Indianapolis 500 victories, two Daytona 500 Championships, a Formula 1 win and overall victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. For 2018, Team Penske will compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The team also races in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, in a partnership with Dick Johnson Racing, as DJR Team Penske.